Getu's Trial: Its Over! (Pittsburgh Indymedia)

http://www.indypgh.org/news/2002/12/421.php

Getu's Trial: Its Over!
by Dan Kyle Sunday, Dec. 22, 2002 at 9:37 AM
daniel_kyle@hotmail.com

The DA's office finally agrees that Getu Towalde, an Ethiopian immigrant, is not a terrorist. The DA also admits that grassroots pressure led to the prosecuter easing up on the initial trumped-up charges.

Ten months ago, Getu Berhanu Towalde was arrested at the Greyhound station in Pittsburgh. His brutalized face and uncommon name were broadcast citywide under the foreboding title �Possible Terrorist�. He was on his way to the Allegheny County Jail, and possibly Guantanamo Bay.

A legal immigrant from Ethiopia, Getu was beaten by the police and arrested after other passengers complained he was �acting suspicious�. According to Getu, he was trying to make friends during the lonely wait before departure. The arresting officer never identified himself and failed to produce a badge before taking him to the ground, disarming Getu of his perceived instrument of destruction: a pen.

The FBI refused to charge him, but Pittsburgh Police went forward with charges of making terroristic threats, causing and risking a catastrophe, and simple and aggravated assault. He was then jailed in the Mental Health pod of the Allegheny county jail and given 8 pills a day, without any attempt at justification. Possibly most disturbing of all, he was the third innocent minority arrested in Pittsburgh in the three months following the September 11th tragedy without any supporting evidence.

Today, Getu has a job. Yes, his name and face are still recognizable in Pittsburgh. He is known as a victim of race-based injustice, who has gathered countless friends in this city with his positive outlook and winning smile. Joe Heckyl from the prison society and Bob Sampson of East Liberty Presbyterian Church testified as a character witness on his trial date. On December 12th, the DA�s office finally agreed to drop all felonious charges, admitting he is not a terrorist. He plead guilty to three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, harassment, and resisting arrest.
The result: eighteen months of probation. No fine. No additional jail time. No joining countless others rotting away in a concentration camp in violation of international law. Another result: nationally published progressive magazines have used his case as a living, breathing example that the witch-hunt for Middle Easterners has gone too far.

Organizers of the Free Getu Coalition call this a success story. Organizer Saleh Wasiruddin said of the campaign: �We showed that through spreading the word about what�s going on, and getting others to spread the word, we can bring support to our side not just at the grassroots level, but also even within the judicial system. The Allegheny County Public Defender�s office gave each of their lawyers a letter telling them how to fight the denial of Behavior Clinic exams Getu was subjected to.�

On December 5th, a fundraiser for Getu�s legal fees became an anti-racism concert and speak-out. The show featured folk, rock, rap, and jazz performers and several speakers who have been victimized by racism at work, in airports, and on the streets. Anti-racism organizer Pete Shell rallied those in attendance: �The DA�s office admitted the mobilization and letters (over 400) sent to their office led them to offer a favorable plea bargain. Without the mobilization, Getu may still be in jail today.� But is Getu happy with the outcome?

�Not exactly happy,� he laughed, clearly relieved the ordeal is finally over, �but happy for the judgment. That judge (Zatola), he did a good thing.� He is disappointed about probation partially because he still misses his life in Washington DC. Paperwork needs to be filed for him to leave the state. When you mention the Thomas Merton Center, however, his optimism and smile returns: �I really appreciate what the Thomas Merton Center is doing, not just for me, but for justice. They are changing the world in good ways.�

�I learned how people react to movements, how people get active around issues.� He said, looking back on the incident that exemplifies the Bush administration�s darkest intentions, �and I learned the police aren�t always right, that�s the bad side of what I learned.�

Organizers of the Free Getu Coalition remain focused on challenging the system that so badly mistreated Getu. "People often get frustrated and discouraged when they write letters and go to demonstrations, and don't see any direct results of their activism.� Pete Shell recently said, �Getu's case reminds us that activism and public pressure does pay off --not all the time but certainly in this case. Recently, several African-Americans have been killed by the police or housing authority officers in Pittsburgh. Let's keep in mind the important contribution that our activism can make as we struggle for justice for the victims of police brutality and against a war in Iraq." Sadly, there is no shortage of cases to take up.

Monty Clay, a featherweight champion boxer and full time jitney driver from Rankin was brutalized while unarmed by police from Braddock, Edgewood, and Swissvale on January 19th, 2002. Despite the fact Monty was not charged nor arrested for any misconduct that evening, his injuries were so severe he was unable to box for seven months. This has been devastating to the career of the two-time "Golden Gloves" champion of Pennsylvania, who was picked at the time to be a likely qualifier for the 2004 Olympic games. Ever since Monty filed charges against the police boroughs involved, police have not let him alone, harassing him and pulling him over every chance they can.

As embarrassing as Monty�s story is, the mysterious death of the Hill District�s Bernard Rogers is equally troublesome. Shot and killed while unarmed by the Pittsburgh Housing Authority, Rogers, just 26 years old, was reportedly just one month away from his degree from Duffs Business School. Recently, forensics investigators concluded that Rogers was shot in the back. This contrasts what the police officer origionally claimed: that Rogers was shot in a struggle for the officers firearm. Questions surround all these cases. Luckily, there are dedicated activists afoot who prioritize racial justice.

For more information, check out http://www.freegetu.org or http://www.zi-activism.net. Also, click http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org for more opportunities to help victims of race-based injustice.

www.freegetu.org

Specter of war treads lightly on campuses (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20021124protest1124p4.asp

Specter of war treads lightly on campuses

Student bodies haven't been fully engaged by direct appeals to oppose Iraq attack

Sunday, November 24, 2002

By Bill Schackner, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Student activists who say their government is about to make an epic mistake gather every Friday around a table on the University of Pittsburgh campus and unfurl a sign with a simple message.

"Disagree with a war in Iraq?" asks the poster in the William Pitt Union. "Do something."

	Pitt senior Lindsay Liprando signs a letter to Presidnet Bush, urging him to reconsider war with Iraq. Andrew Schrock and Caset Currin are part of Students in Solidarity, which sponsored the table. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette)

Passers-by often do.

One recent afternoon, members of the anti-war committee of Students in Solidarity mustered 78 signatures, enough to build a pile of form letters urging the White House to reconsider its stand. One signer, sophomore Laura Wright, was adamant that the United States has no business attacking another country first.

"This will set an ugly precedent that a country has no right to sovereignty," said Wright, 20, of New Stanton. "Most people [who] I know are opposed to it."

On the surface, those words and signatures have a strong ring of solidarity, the kind that in the 1960s turned the nation's campuses into breeding grounds of dissent.

But elsewhere at Pitt, and on campuses nationwide, there are reminders that this is a different era, and that winning over minds this time won't be a walk through Woodstock.

Not far from the anti-war table, another group of undergraduates stands outdoors next to a bronze statue of Pitt's mascot Panther and agrees there is little buzz about the topic.

"I don't think there's a lot of support for the anti-war movement right now, especially after all the stuff that happened with Sept. 11," said Pitt freshman David Schaffner, who says war with Iraq is necessary. "The country is pretty solidly behind its leaders right now, just because it makes people feel safer."

Alisha Bhagat, 19, a student at Carnegie Mellon University, hands out leaflets in the Strip District yesterday protesting a possible war on Iraq. An anti-war rally was held at 21st and Smallman streets. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

Schaffner's view, and the sharply different opinion held by Wright, pose a question for organizers as they gauge the movement's reach. If bombs start dropping, and U.S. servicemen die, will a topic now debated in dormitories and in classrooms become a full-blown, unified protest movement reminiscent of Vietnam?

Or will it be the same core group of student activists, presiding over sparsely attended rallies?

What's missing from the movement, some say, are the elements that ignited campuses in the late 1960s: A prolonged and televised bloody conflict in which a student's prospect of dying was as real as the draft.

For now, many area protests are noteworthy less for their size than their flair.

Instead of sit-ins or raucous street demonstrations, students on some campuses are employing a mix of artwork, impromptu guerrilla theater and other creative means to drive home their points.

At Carnegie Mellon University, activists unveiled an Axis of Evil game at an outdoor carnival. Participants in a parking lot tossed water balloons at people wearing T-shirts denoting civilian and military targets in countries such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

Whenever they hit a target, they were quizzed about some aspect of the country's society.

The message was "you're attacking people," campus organizer Syed Saleh Waziruddin said. "These are not just abstract points. They are societies that we should value."

Takkeem Morgan, vice president of Penn State Black Caucus, created a temporary outdoor sculpture on campus of five dead Iraqi children. The models were wrapped head to toe in trash bags. Information about them was posted nearby.

Students walking through Penn State's Hetzel Union Building recently came upon an exhibit showing the meager food supplies available to an Iraqi citizen.

Nationwide, there is little doubt that the hawkish tone from Washington has energized a core of students, including veteran protesters and newcomers. They are planning education campaigns, leafleting on and off campus, and making noise at rallies and marches.

The Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal Washington, D.C., think tank, estimates that 300 anti-war demonstrations have been held across the country. They range from 20 or so students at New York University who staged sit-ins to many thousands who marched in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and other cities.

E-mails arrive regularly from students intent on starting campus groups or professors interested in holding teach-ins, said Juliette Niehuss, student coordinator for the institute.

"We're doing this months before we even go to war," she said. "We haven't seen the bodies come back."

For now, though, the sharpest salvos by activists are being fired not on the streets, but on paper, and not all of the speeches are anti-war.

On some campuses, such posters as "No Blood for Oil" and "Drop Bush Not Bombs" are being matched by signs such as the one posted in NYU's student activities center to promote meetings of the College Republicans.

"Save the children," it reads. "Bomb Iraq."

In spots, the street theater seems straight from the days of Joan Baez, with its drum-playing protesters, students with dreadlocks and calls for civil disobedience. But those running the events carry pagers, and they're getting word out with help from e-mail and Web sites.

On area campuses, from Gannon University to Point Park College, dissent can be found, too -- but only to a point.

At Penn State, a handful of the campus's 41,000 students join monthly protests at the university's gates, and several hundred boarded buses for the Oct. 26 rally in Washington, D.C. -- numbers far short of the 4,000 students who showed up in April 2001 for a rally after several black students received death threats.

At Carnegie Mellon, 15 marchers on the 8,600-student campus set out for a rally Sept. 21 at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland and were joined by 15 others along the way. About 60 from campus traveled by bus to the Washington, D.C., rally.

Those numbers smack of apathy to graying hippies who saw campuses shut down by Vietnam protests. That may be true, observers say, but it's more complicated than that.

The '60s movement was years in the making, they say, and was fueled in large part by tens of thousands of U.S. casualties in Vietnam and fears of the military draft. The draft ended in 1973, and there is little tangible evidence that an Iraqi war now would affect students' lives any more than the Persian Gulf war did a decade ago.

"The war hasn't started. We have a volunteer Army. It's not quite real yet," said Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University and an author who researches student attitudes. "There is no indication that it is resonating with a wider audience."

Levine said the biggest protests as a percentage of campus population took place in the 1930s, when horrific memories of the carnage of World War I moved a generation of students to speak out against involvement in what became World War II.

"What this generation has seen was a war with Iraq in which the number of people who died was actually quite small, and we watched it on TV," he said.

Tom Hayden, former California state senator and a leader of the '60s campus movement, said he believed that anti-war organizers actually were further along today than their predecessors were in early 1965, before America's Vietnam involvement escalated. What will happen this time, he said, "depends on what kind of war we have."

In the '60s, as Vietnam divided the country, protest leaders who had honed their skills in the civil rights movement in the South overcame apathy among their campus peers. He draws parallels to today.

"You have a very well-educated minority of students who are organizing protests. They already have experience with the anti-globalization movement, with Seattle and with [World Trade Organization] protests," Hayden said.

They have something their '60s counterparts lacked, said Hayden, one of the Chicago Seven defendants accused but later cleared of charges related to street violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. "We didn't have the right to vote," he said.

Eighteen-year-olds got the right to cast ballots in the 1972 presidential election, as the voting age was lowered from 21.

Of course, voting is a tool many college students in Pittsburgh and elsewhere do not use.

It's far from certain if a war with Iraq will change that. At Pitt, interviews with student groups ranging from the Black Action Society to the College Republicans suggest that the campus, by and large, has not been moved enough to mobilize.

Andrew Schrock, 21, acknowledged the same the other day as he sat at the anti-war table in the William Pitt Union with literature promoting peace.

"There is a level of awareness," he said. "I don't think it's all that high. I think it should be higher."

But, he said, there is time to overcome that.

"My goal is not to change policies right now," he said. "I'm more interested in changing people's minds, making them interested."

Some organizers got involved on their campuses through courses they are taking on topics such as peace movements. Others had been active in causes for years -- from the Cuban embargo to the environment -- or signed on after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks over what they saw as government infringements on civil liberties.

Hayden said the media wasn't picking up on the ground swell over Iraq. He said news outlets contrived unfair comparisons between this early-stage organizing and late-stage Vietnam demonstrations.

At Point Park, student organizer Chad Skaggs would seem to agree. He spouts statistics about corporate ownership of newspapers the way others rattle off baseball statistics, asserting that the media shy away from certain causes. He didn't hesitate when asked what would be needed for the anti-war movement to take hold on college campuses.

"A free and open press," he said.

But Schaffner, the Pitt student, offered a different suggestion, one he said was now commonly used to lure students to all kinds of events.

"You want a big turnout?" he asked. "You give people free food. It doesn't matter what kind."

Impending visit from Netanyahu provokes rallies (The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University newspaper)

 

Activists Call for More Debate on Iraq Agenda (The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University newspaper)

 

Anti-war rally gathers on Soldiers’ ‘ Sailors’ lawn (Pitt News)

https://pittnews.com/article/39547/archives/anti-war-rally-gathers-on-soldiers-sailors-lawn/ 

By JESSICA WADDELL
SEPTEMBER 23, 2002

As talks of a possible attack on Iraq continue, an anti-war movement is in full swing right… As talks of a possible attack on Iraq continue, an anti-war movement is in full swing right here at Pitt.

The Thomas Merton Center held an anti-war rally on the lawn of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Saturday afternoon. Nearly 100 community leaders, activists, students and concerned citizens attended the event.

Sayed Saleh Waziruddin, board member of the Thomas Merton Center, led a small march from Carnegie Mellon University to the scene of the rally. The marchers carried signs and chanted, “What do we want? Peace. When do we want it? Now. Bush says regime change. We say he’s deranged.”

As the rally commenced, participants held signs, some made with care and some quickly written with marker on fliers. Some sayings were: “Each life is good,” and “I love America. I hate its actions.”

The Reverend Todd Davis, a participant in the rally, said, “I am here because I believe Bush is going to get the U.S. in great trouble. He is alienating the U.S. from all the nations of the world by acting unilaterally.”

Concerned citizen, poet, and Thomas Merton Center volunteer Cecilia Wheeler expressed her reasons for participating.

“We are united here to stop a war on Iraq. We don’t think there’s been enough evidence to start a war,” she said. “We want sanctions against Iraq down. There’s been too much suffering for the people in Iraq since ’91.”

The protest consisted of rallying speeches given by guest speakers, such as a medical expert, a journalist, a teen-age activist, professors and religious leaders. There was also satirical music, created by Anne Feeney and Chris Chandler, often met with random outbursts of supportive chanting.

Ginny Hildebrand and Waziruddin quieted the protesters and introduced the speakers. Throughout the speeches, the protesters would show support for a point and after each speech, the crowd would applaud.

Iskander Langalibalele spoke for Azania Heritage International and Unite ‘N Resist. He voiced his reasons for believing war in Iraq is wrong.

“We have a president not democratically elected,” he said. “Why [is the Bush administration] attacking human beings?”

Langalibalele had a charge for the group.

“We have to change the whole system and the whole society. We need to bring about a change,” he said. “Where is the courage? We need to build this into a mass movement.”

Brother Yusef Ali from the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh voiced his beliefs about the protest.

“Americans have to create a climate so that people can be able to think and express themselves without being considered unpatriotic,” he said.

He continued, speaking about compassion. His final words became a chant, “Let’s make war no more.”

As a change of pace, Feeney, playing the guitar, and Chandler, vocalist with a megaphone, performed a song that related the administration to a hypothetical carnival. The song, which evoked a great deal of laughter, had a harsh undertone and made points regarding the economy and hypocrisy.

The Reverend Renee Waun, from the East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church, said that she called the President and insisted that concerned citizens do the same.

“I am downright embarrassed and ashamed at what our president is doing,” she said. “This is our last opportunity to show moral leadership to the world.”

She expressed her ultimate fears as to what might happen as a result of an attack on Iraq.

“It’s going to be the beginning of a really awful time in history, and we’re going to be blamed for it,” she said.

In summation, Waun articulated the decision America has to make.

“We have a choice,” she said, “to seize the high moral moment or to be lost in the despair of immoral mayhem.”

Molly Rush, host and founder of the Thomas Merton Center, rallied more support.

“There is a strong movement against war in Iraq,” she said. “We are going to need to depend on each other. I am thinking about civil disobedience again.”

The rally ended after about an hour. As the participants dispersed, they picked up fliers with the phone numbers and addresses for congressmen and the White House.

Professors for Peace and Justice question, debate politics (The Pitt News)

https://pittnews.com/article/39699/archives/professors-for-peace-and-justice-question-debate-politics/

Professors for Peace and Justice question, debate politics

By JESSICA WADDELLStaff Writer
SEPTEMBER 18, 2002

Pittsburgh Professors for Peace and Justice are making efforts to reform political… Pittsburgh Professors for Peace and Justice are making efforts to reform political consciousness.

PPJ held an open forum on Sept. 13 in Posvar Hall to discuss the situation in Iraq and the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 200 people, including professors, students, and local activists, attended the event.

PPJ was founded last year in response to the American treatment of Sept. 11, with the mission of researching events and sharing that research to further inform the public, according to members Mark Ginsburg and Clark Henderson. Its members include faculty from colleges in Pittsburgh, such as Pitt, Carnegie Mellon University and Carlow College, who meet to discuss issues pertaining to the war on terror.

According to Ginsburg and Henderson, recent meetings have been focused on the possible attack on Iraq. Ginsburg added that, typically, 15 to 20 faculty members attend the meetings and someone leads the topic of conversation, which requires that they share research.

Ken Boas and Kelly Happe led the first discussion, raising questions about the situation in the Middle East.

Boas and Happe addressed American favoritism of the Israelis and said they wondered if Americans could find sympathy for the oppressed Palestinians.

“To prevent catastrophe in the Middle East, isn’t it our responsibility to tell the stories that affirm the Palestinian people?” Boas asked.

To finalize the discussion, Boas said, “Why do we buy into the idea that war in the Middle East makes the world safer? Osama made his grievances to clear to the world: stop oppressing and destroying the Palestinians.”

In the second segment, speaker Carol Stabile discussed the media and patriotism and their effects in the war on terror, emphasizing the importance for the American public to seek education and alternative news sources.

In an interview, Stabile elaborated about the media, saying that “in the university, we have the responsibility to educate people about this; we have the knowledge. I have studied the media, and I have all this information. As researchers, we put together separate accounts.” She continued, saying, “Only one viewpoint is being offered and that’s the current administration’s. We must ask ourselves, why don’t we see alternative accounts?”

Stabile said she was impressed with the turnout of the forum and wondered if there were people all over the nation with the same concerns. She concluded, saying, “Things are changing as we speak.”

Following Stabile, Carrie Rentschler addressed the media’s handling of the anniversary. Rentschler re-emphasized the responsibility Americans have to be educated and outspoken.

After the debate, Rentschler spoke in regards to the way in which the anniversary of Sept. 11 was handled. “To focus on remembrance and mourning, didn’t provide space for dissent. People should talk about the war on terror.” She continued rather adamantly, “People within the White House have said that Sept. 11 is very important as an emotional basis for going to war with Iraq.”

Sayed Saleh Waziruddin, Muslim co-founder of the local activist group Zi and founder of the Free Getu Coalition, led the third segment. He spoke about the tension and life adjustments of American-Muslim population since Sept. 11.

Waziruddin felt that after Sept. 11, the calls for unity excluded the Muslim population, which he believed was suddenly seen as suspicious simply for looking different.

Waziruddin concluded with a charge for the group.

“There is hope since we are here today. Let’s spread the ideas,” he said.

President appointed to homeland security advisory council (The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University newspaper)